


heart body and will

by BlackJacketsandPens



Series: ASTVerse Oneshot Series [1]
Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: AST Verse Oneshot, Gen, finally i get started on these, terra your armor is terrifying u gave sora a complex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-01
Updated: 2018-08-01
Packaged: 2019-06-19 19:25:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15516906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackJacketsandPens/pseuds/BlackJacketsandPens
Summary: Terra might be whole again, but there is still one piece missing, one thing he still needs: and not just the suit of armor and his blade, either. What lies within is just as important.ASTVerse Oneshot.





	heart body and will

It had begun as a normal day. Lea, Xion, Vanitas, and Jasper had taken some other members of the New Organization -- as they'd started calling it in lieu of anything better -- out to a couple worlds to clear Heartless, and the rest were like as not either loitering about the hotel or working in the makeshift lab.

Meanwhile, Terra and Aqua -- accompanied by Ven -- had headed to the Tower. Aqua and Ven arrived few moments after Terra, their gliders just a bit slower than a corridor, and Terra tried not to feel too wistful about seeing them in their armor. He'd returned Aqua’s to her, Ienzo helping her magically repair it, and he was...glad it was in better condition now than it had been. Seeing it cracked and battered had been rough.

“ _Whoah_ ,” Kairi managed -- the three young Keybearers from Destiny Islands had come out to meet them, as they'd headed to the Tower to teach them a few tricks, and all three stood marvelling at the armor and gliders. “Are you really gonna teach us to do that?”

“Sure are!” Ven chirped. “Well...Aqua knows best, so mostly her? To be honest I didn't even know I could do the armor thing until…all that stuff happened. So she's the expert!” He paused and grinned. “Well, the expert in all the _technical_ stuff. No one's better than Terra when it comes to actually using the gliders. And they're both as good as each other in doing other cool Keyblade stuff.”

Terra laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. “Well, that might be true, but without my actual Keyblade and armor, I'm kinda useless. Mostly moral support here and if anyone needs advice.” He shrugged. “Once you guys get the hang of it, we'll drag Lea, Vanitas, and Xion into learning, too.”

“Only can teach three at a time, huh?” Kairi said teasingly. “Makes sense! Just be careful, group two's got two problem students!” They all laughed. “And we'll teach Roxas, too, right?” She added.

Ven nodded. “Yeah!” He said. “I don't see why not! The more the merrier! And the armor's gonna come in really handy, trust me.”

“Considering how yours protected Sora?” Riku said. “Yeah, I can understand that.” He paused. “...Sora?”

The brunet had been very quiet since Aqua and Ven had arrived, staring with wide eyes at the two of them in their armor, and occasionally glancing at Terra.

“Sora?” Aqua asked. “Is something wrong?”

The boy jumped, and then shook his head and laughed,a bit nervously. “No!” He said hurriedly. “It's nothing! I-I mean, okay, it might be, I just…” He trailed off, and Riku and Kairi both recognized the look on Sora’s face as the one he got when he finally found the answer to something he hasn't understood. It had been common while they'd been in school together; Sora wasn't as stupid or dense as people tended to accuse him of being -- he was actually pretty clever (except in math). He just had trouble focusing on things, and trouble when it came to putting pieces together to find an answer. Riku knew it was why his best friend relied on people explaining things to him so much: Sora just struggled with putting things together himself. It was why he knew that despite appearances, Sora had been pretty hurt by the Mark and how little Yen Sid had really prepared them for what could happen.

“... I've seen armor like that before,” Sora said finally. He rubbed his arm. “I...think it's yours, Terra.”

Terra, Aqua, and Ven exchanged looks. “My armor's brown and gold,” Terra said. “And--”

“The helmet’s got pointy things on it like this?” Sora said, gesturing with his hands to indicate pointy 'ears’. “The Keyblade he-- uh, _it_ had was kinda brown and gold too? With a blue handle. It was big.”

“Yeah, that's Terra’s!” Ven said, amazed. “How-- where did you see it?”

Sora looked...not uncomfortable, but a bit uncertain. “I'm not...it was weird,” he explained. “Before we went to Twilight Town to get into the Organization’s world, um, we got called back to Disney Castle? There was a weird portal in the back of the Hall of the Cornerstone. Not, like, a _darkness_ portal though. Anyway we went through it, and the place was…” He trailed off. “Some kind of wasteland? A little like how the Pridelands was with Scar? Like….dry and brown and dusty and full of rocks and cliffs and craters.”

“The Keyblade Graveyard…” Aqua said, the three older Keybearers exchanging pained looks. “Terra's armor and Keyblade are...still there?”

Sora shrugged. “It sure was when I got there. It...said some stuff? Not out loud, but...in my head? I didn't get it when it was said -- stuff about me not being who it chose, some names... and then it-- thought I was Xehanort.”

Terra managed to crack a smile. “My armor spoke to you?” He asked. “And...it sounds like it was stuff I'd say.” Some names...had to be Aqua and Ven. And it figured Sora wouldn't put two and two together until he saw their armor. He wouldn't have had all the context til then.

“It, um. Didn't just talk to me,” Sora said sheepishly. “I told you it thought I was Xehanort. It...kinda beat the crap out of me. I won...eventually! But…” He grimaced, and the others caught on to why he was so uncomfortable with the topic.

Ven laughed, though. “Wow, Terra, you were _so mad_ at Xehanort that your angry stuck around to beat people up!” He teased. “We always knew you were stubborn!”

Terra flushed, and even Aqua giggled. “Out of all of us, I can see part of you doing that. All of you fought so hard against him... I guess it makes sense that it wasn't just your heart and memories.”

“Guys, c’mon,” Terra protested. “It's not _that_ impressive.”

“It really is,” Aqua said, amused. “Sora, you said it was a tough opponent?”

Sora just groaned. “The _worst_. He's on my top three never ever ever _ever_ fighting again list! And he's miles higher on it than Xaldin and Sephiroth!” He shuddered. “You were using your glider as a weapon, and you had like a dozen things you could turn your Keyblade into, and-- and who said it was okay to turn it into a giant cannon?!”

Ven burst into laughter at that again, and Aqua pressed a hand to her mouth to keep from the same. “Your cannon!” Ven managed, snickering. “Oh my gosh! _Terra!”_

“Stop laughin’!” Terra protested, his face red. “Yeah, that’s-- I can do the cannon thing, m’sorry my crazy bloodthirsty armor used it on you, it's really not that funny!” he shook his head. “Can we...can you show me where you found it?” He asked, trying to get the situation under control. “I kind of need it badly. Especially my Keyblade. I... can't keep using Aqua's.”

“Yeah,” Riku said. “Hers doesn't look like it fits your style at all.”

“I'm surprised you haven't broken it,” Aqua admitted, and then paused wincing. “I mean...your swings are so heavy, and my blade's so thin…”

Terra gave her a reassuring smile. “I got what you meant.” Aqua had been... noticeably careful the past week since they'd rescued Ven -- with both of them, with Vanitas, with most of the group. Whatever had happened in the Realm of Darkness had definitely affected her and subdued her quite a bit, made her that little bit more on edge, but it was also clear that she'd realized what had gone wrong back then and was...he thought she was overcompensating a little, being a bit too cautious with her words. She'd recover in time, he knew, and so would they all, but...he was starting to think that there was a distance that would never be able to be bridged now, between himself and Aqua.

As long as they were together, though, he could cope with that.

“Um, yeah,” Sora said. “I can show you where it is. I mean-- better you get it than it sits there forever waiting for Xehanort, right? If it’s all your angry at him, then that belongs back with you, too.”

His...anger? Back with him? Was he missing it? Terra….had to wonder. All this time, the past few weeks...he’d felt normal. Slowly coping with everything that had happened, especially now that they had time to sit and do that rather than rush around looking for Aqua and Ven. But...was he? He knew he’d been angry before, furious at Xehanort, mad at himself when he confronted Xemnas, angry at Oswald’s resignation, but-- he’d never been able to hold onto that for long, had he? It had slipped away and left him exhausted and drained and doubting again. And the _guilt_ \-- even if he knew it was Xehanort to blame, he couldn’t fight off the shroud of guilt and shame that sat on his shoulders. All those little moments, the times he’d been reassured that didn’t stick, sliding off him like rain off the side of a building, and-- when Ven had appeared in Daybreak, he’d just shut down. Instead of anger and rage, hurt and fury that Xehanort had taken his best friend -- he’d just collapsed. And even now, thinking about it made him feel guilt more than anything else, guilt and regret.

So...maybe he _was_ missing something, some final piece that he’d been able to live without, but something vital all the same. “Yeah,” he said. “Lead the way, Sora. Let’s go get my stuff back.”

* * *

None of them wanted to be in the Graveyard. When Sora landed the Gummi Ship -- taken for the ease of getting Terra, Riku, and Kairi there without gliders and because Terra knew corridors made at least some of them uneasy -- as near to where the armor was as possible, the three older wielders were the last out, hearts twisting in discomfort. The last time they’d been here...it had all gone to hell. At least they weren’t anywhere near the field of dead Keyblades -- something that hurt worse now that they knew Jasper, Lauriam, and worst of all Ven had been part of the war that created it -- but it was still hard to be here.

“Um, it’s-- over there,” Sora said, pointing amid the canyon’s rocky outcroppings to an open space. “It just knelt there ‘til I got closer.” He shifted from foot to foot. “So, uh. I...think you should go ahead of us, Terra? Just in case. I’m-- I don’t think anyone wants to fight it.”

Ven snorted. “I sure don’t! Terra’s awesome enough now as it is, I don’t wanna know how tough the rest of him’s gotten if you think it’s that scary, Sora.”

“Oh, you have _no idea_ ,” Sora said with a shudder.

Terra laughed. “Okay,” he said. “You guys stay out of combat range in case I have to fight myself -- which, honestly, given my track record is probably likely -- and I’ll be back...soon, I hope.”

He glanced at Ven and Aqua, nodding at them, and they gave him twin shaky smiles back. They didn’t want to be here, he knew. He didn’t, either. But they would for his sake, so...he’d appreciate it, fight off the guilt, and make this as quick as he could.

The armor was waiting for him where Sora said it would be, and Terra’s lips twitched despite himself. When had he gotten a cape? It...made him look awfully dramatic, that was for sure. Like a knight turned to stone, kneeling in wait for his liege, cape billowing in the breeze...like out of a fairy tale. He was a bit glad the others couldn’t see it, because of how dramatic it was -- but then, he knew he had a dramatic streak. Xemnas had sure milked that one for all it was worth, and he knew it hadn’t been _all_ Xehanort.

_Aqua...Ven…_

His own voice curled into his mind, not audible but...somehow something he _felt_ , and he stopped a few feet from the armor to wait and watch.

_You are…_

“I am,” Terra said. “I’m...the rest of us. The part you’ve been waiting for. And you’re the part I’m missing.”

_My promise...is it time?_

He smiled. “We said we would set this right,” he said quietly, somehow knowing despite...how many pieces he’d been torn into, how many memories he had and lost and would never get back. “It’s been a long time. We’ve been...too many people, broken into too many fragments. A Heartless, a Nobody, and you. And...we’ve all fought to keep that promise. No matter how little of us there is, whether we were just a heart, just fragments of will and an empty shell, or...just my determination bound by armor. We fight -- it’s what we do best.” He approached, never taking his eyes off the armor. “It’s something I’ve learned about myself, or...something else I always knew, but never accepted. I’m a fighter, _we’re_ a fighter. Maybe a good leader, I don’t know yet -- they all say I am -- but...regardless, what I can do is fight. To protect what matters, and to keep my promise.”

He was standing in front of the armor now. “Aqua and Ven are safe,” he told it. “They’re home again, safe and whole. All that’s left is to fight Xehanort. And I can’t do that without you.” Without his rage, without his anger, without this willpower that would finally chase away the last of the guilt and doubt and give him what he needed to fight. “It’s time.” He told it. “Will you join me?”

_Yes. It’s time...thank you._

The armor stood, slowly, armor creaking as he pulled the Keyblade from where it had been buried in the earth. Face to face with its owner and wielder, it turned the blade horizontal, presenting it to Terra like a knight offering his weapon to his liege. Terra stared at it a moment, hesitating, and then wrapped his hand around the hilt.

The light that exploded from between them was blinding, and the tidal wave of emotion that slammed into his chest felt like he’d been punched in the gut. All that rage, that anger, that pain and righteous fury-- it hit him harder than he’d ever expected, sending him to his knees still clutching his Keyblade in his hand and not even registering his armor retreating into its dormant pauldron state. Bile rose in his throat and he doubled over, coughing, oblivious to his friends running towards him, calling his name.

 _Shit,_ he thought, dizzy and overwhelmed _._ It was intense, his heart beating triple-time as he readjusted to the fury in his veins, head pounding as if he was at the height of an adrenaline high with no real source. So this was what he’d been missing? It-- oh. _Oh_. It was true, then. You never know...you can’t realize until you have it back. Xemnas’s words stuck out to him, then, in his haze -- _hearts filled with hatred, rage, envy…_ \-- had he missed this part of him this much? Was its absence why Xemnas had been so hollow, so empty, even for a Nobody?

“Terra!” Their voices cut through his thoughts like a knife, and Aqua and Ven slammed into him in unison, arms wrapping around him and faces in his shoulder and chest.

“Are you okay?” Ven asked, eyes wide and panicked. “You fell, and-- and I--”

“I’m okay, I’m alright,” he managed, voice rough and a little shaky. “It’s just-- a lot. I’m fine, you two. I promise, I’m fine.” He understood why they were worried -- after the last twelve years, anything at all...any sign of trouble, after all they went through to be with each other again, it was frightening.

But he was fine. He _was_ \-- as the initial adrenaline high wore off, the blaze of fury that had knocked him off his feet, he felt... _alive_. More than he’d felt even the past few weeks. Alive and solid and-- there was something indefinable that had been missing before, something this filled out, and it felt _good_. He felt better than fine, and when he stood with a laugh he scooped the other two into his arms, both of them yelping in surprise as he held them up in midair.

“Terra!” Aqua squeaked, legs wrapping around his middle to support herself. “What are you doing?!”

Ven was laughing, too, feet dangling loosely. “Terra!”

“Let me have this, okay?” Terra said, smiling -- wider then he thought he’d ever smiled, a weight he’d worn on his shoulders finally _really gone_ , the parts of himself he’d hidden whole and never again to be denied -- and looking over to grin at Sora, Riku, and Kairi. “I’m fine,” he reassured them. “Better than ever.”

Kairi grinned. “Good!” She said. “And you got your stuff back.” She moved to bend down and pick up the pauldron, holding it out for him to see. “Armor, Keyblade, and...that last missing piece of who you are, right?”

“Right,” Terra said, letting the other two go. Ven dropped easily to the ground and Aqua followed, looking embarrassed as she righted herself. “And...hey, now I can actually help with training.” His grin widened, glancing at Sora. “Right, Sora?”

Sora went pale. “Ohhhh, no, that’s not even a little bit funny!” He protested. “No way, you can train with Riku!”

“No way, I call dibs!” Kairi said firmly. “You can have Ven, I want Terra as my teacher!”

There was a chorus of laughter amid her two best friends sputtering in horrified protest -- and Terra deciding, at least inwardly for now, that he’d definitely be willing to show the spunky Princess of Heart a thing or two, if that’s how she really wanted to fight -- and they headed off to the gummi ship. Well, Sora and his friends did. Aqua and Ven donned their armor and boarded their gliders, waiting on him, and he hefted his pauldron in his hand for a moment…before strapping it to his shoulder (he’d find a better way to wear it later) and activating it, the magicked steel plates cool and familiar against his skin. The glider beneath him was familiar too, like an old friend he hadn’t seen in years, and it was...he was whole. Finally, truly whole. Every piece of him back where it belonged -- heart, body, mind, will, and his friends. All together.

And...he’d been uncertain before, even if he knew he’d proven himself so many times over. Unsure, doubting, even when he’d shown himself and everyone else he did have what it took, he had accepted his darkness and his flaws, and had come so far. But now? Now it was...now he _truly_ felt like the title Aqua had given him sat well on his shoulders.

 _Master Terra,_ he thought, speeding off past Aqua and Ven, hearing their laughter and shouts as they took off after him in an impromptu race. _Yeah. I think I can get used to that._

**Author's Note:**

> HEY GUYS I FINALLY AM WORKING ON THESE!!!
> 
> First up and one of the more important things that needed dealt with: our buddy Lingering Will. It's always been interesting to me to think about what's in that armor and how Terra is without it/with it/what it does to him that it's gone. And especially to think about what its absence did to Xemnas, given Nobodies are just willpower fueling an empty shell, and LW was all of Terra's will.
> 
> In any case, ta-da! Here y'are, one oneshot, more to come!


End file.
